40 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



more so now Burleigh, Francis Bacon, Sir Wil- 

 liam Temple, John Evelyn, whose long and useful 

 life was passed in six reigns and the upheaval 

 of the Commonwealth, the "worshipful chirur- 

 geons " Turner and Gerard and Parkinson and the 

 rest a goodly procession. Many more were not 

 famous, but only humble and nameless individuals, 

 and perhaps the little deed they may have done 

 which became a public benefit has died forgotten 

 some sailor lad who brought home the seed pod 

 of a rare tree from distant parts ; some poor lackey 

 in the train of an ambassador or noble of other 

 days who charged himself with the care of precious 

 roots or grafts for the lowly garden plot at home. 

 There have been many like the obscure French 

 traveller who actually shared his scanty measure 

 of water on a perilous voyage with the seedling 

 cedar he was bringing back from Lebanon itself, 

 which afterwards flourished in the Jardin des 

 Plantes of Paris for a hundred years, until a rail- 

 way had to be cut directly over its site, and the 

 long-cherished tree was done to death. Shall not 

 such as these, as well as the great ones of the 

 earth, be remembered with gratitude as we rest 

 under the shadow of the chestnut or plane or tulip 

 tree planted long years ago ? 



